CHAPTER 4

The next morning was Saturday, but it was anything but a day to sleep in. Miguel was rudely awakened at 5:30 in the morning by Johnny kicking the side of his bed, and they drove to Coyote Creek to meet up with the rest of the group for training. Johnny and Daniel had a combined special lesson plan in mind, and it would involve all of them pushing the limits as far as they could.

When they stepped out of the car, Miguel joined the group of exhausted students and a wide-awake Johnny joined a wide-awake Daniel at the front. Johnny wasn't tired at all. Hell, at this time, he was normally still in the bars. The students however were practically asleep again. In fact, Bert was fast asleep on the ground and Sam was dozing off on Miguel's shoulder.

"Sensei, why are we here?" Miguel mumbled, starting to fade himself.

"QUIETTTT!" Johnny bellowed, causing everyone asleep to jump in shock. "Listen up! This is going to be the hardest training of your lives, and you're not going to be able to do that if you're tired! How many of you are tired?!"

Pretty much everyone raised their hand. Johnny smirked.

"Okay. Follow me." He said. Confused, the group all hurried after Johnny and Daniel, still slightly blurry-eyed from sleep, and Johnny stopped them right beside the Creek.

"What are we doing?" Demitri slurred, his eyes closed and him in a daze, asleep but still standing.

"Line up. Close your eyes. Stand on one leg." Johnny demanded to everyone. The group reluctantly made a line and they all stood on a single leg, wobbling for balance as they were all still tired. Johnny stood opposite Miguel - who was on the far left of the group - and Daniel stood opposite Chris - who was on the far right. The two senseis grinned at each other.

"Ready?" Daniel asked Johnny. Johnny smirked and nodded.

"Hell, yeah." Johnny replied. With that, Johnny and Daniel pushed every single student into the frigid waters of the icy lake. The freezing cold, as well as the shock of being in there, caused them all to wake the hell up immediately.

"Oh, we should have asked them if they can all swim." Daniel remarked, worriedly, afterwards. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

"Nobody can't swim. Everyone can. They just need the right incentive, and drowning seems like a pretty good one to get legs working so they'll be fine."

Daniel looked at Johnny, incredulously.

"You can't be serious?!" He exclaimed. "You're insane, you know that?"

"Not as much as someone who believes that in fights, you should wait for the opponent to hit you." Johnny shot back. Daniel rolled his eyes at Johnny as the students slowly climbed out of the lake, absolutely freezing but wide-awake now.

"All right!" Johnny shouted. "Now, I ask again, how many of you are tired?"

No one raised their hand this time.

"Mr. L, can I go grab my jacket?" Demitri asked. "I have medically diagnosed thin skin and I…"

"QUIETTTTT!" Johnny bellowed, cutting him off. "You don't want to be cold? Tell your body not to be cold! I don't give a shit about your comfort!"

Demitri blushed and stepped back into the line of the students.

"Now, let's begin." Johnny said in a slightly quieter but still pretty loud voice. "We're in Coyote Creek today not to do the drill that we did in Cobra Kai last year. No! We are doing something different. A race."

"But not just any race." Daniel continued. "This race will yeah involve speed, but it will also involve strength, stamina, balance, agility, everything that you will need to be amazing at during the All-Valley."

"It's an obstacle race." Johnny explained. "You guys are going to be split off into random pairs and each of you is given a map of this whole forest and a compass. On the map, marked out, are 15 obstacles, ranging from tightroping across two trees, climbing a tree, flipping a boulder, and more. You are going to go to all of these obstacles in the order they are assigned to you to prevent cheaters just following one another. The race should take you at least 5 hours, and by the end, you will have run nearly 13 miles, in addition to having completed all of the various obstacles."

"What does the winning pair get?" Mitch asked, eagerly.

"A 50 dollar gift card each to a store of their choice." Daniel replied. Everyone's eyes widened. This was insane! At that moment, things suddenly got a LOT more competitive.

"What are the pairings?" Miguel asked. Daniel took out a hat.

"Everyone's names are on here. One by one, you're going to pull a name from the hat. Whoever you pull is your partner. If you like your partner, that's great. If you don't, I don't give a fuck." Johnny said. "If you pull the name of someone who is already in a pair, you pick again. Any more questions?"

"What happens if we get lost?" Demitri asked.

"Well, you have a compass and map so try and get back on track. However, worse case scenario like one of you are injured or you're really lost, you do get to have one phone on you. Before we start, you're going to turn off the phone and you can't turn it on. If you do, we get a notification and you are automatically out of the race. If you're lost, just call us and we'll track your phone's location and pick you up." Daniel said, reassuringly.

"But don't forfeit. Quitting is for pussies." Johnny remarked. Miguel chuckled at his sensei's bluntness. That man was truly unique, and he would really never evolve to the ways of the world.

"All right? No more questions? Let's start. First things first, teams…" Daniel said. Miguel closed his eyes and hoped to God he was paired with either Sam or Hawk. They were his only chances of winning. They were the most athletic people in the group. Demitri wasn't a bad bet either, but Miguel knew that after 5 hours of hard work, the last thing he would want to hear as they did the obstacle course would be Demitri's incessant jabbering.

"Diaz. You pick first." Johnny stated. Miguel nodded and walked over to the hat. Saying a silent prayer, he reached his hand into the hat and pulled out a concealed slip of paper. Miguel slowly opened it and read the name…

Hawk

Miguel rejoiced in relief, his wide smile noticeable to the rest of the group.

"Well, who'd you get?" Mitch asked, hoping to be with Miguel. Hell, pretty much everyone was hoping to be with Miguel. Although he couldn't fight, he was the most athletic member of the group. Miguel turned to Hawk and grinned at him. Hawk's eyes widened in delight.

"No way! Really?!" Hawk exclaimed. Miguel grinned and walked over to him, embracing him.

"Let's do this, man." Miguel stated. Hawk nodded.

"Hell yeah!" Hawk shouted. The rest of the group were far from happy though.

"This isn't fair! They're gonna win for sure!" Demitri exclaimed.

"Tough!" Johnny shouted. "Life doesn't always give you a fair fight! This is something your pussy generation need to get through your thick heads! Hawk and Diaz are together by random chance! Fucking deal with it!"

With that, there were no more complaints from the students. They were all silent as they drew their teammates. Sam was with Demitri. Bert was with Chris. Mitch was with Nate. And of course, Hawk was with Miguel. The teams were set, and they were ready to start. Johnny tossed each of them a small stick of beef jerky and a half liter bottle of water.

"Um… Sensei. We're going to need more food and water than this if we're training for 7 hours?" Mitch stated.

"Well, suck it up. This is all you get. If you need more water, get it from the lake. And if you want more food… well, it wouldn't hurt you to lose weight." Johnny snapped. Miguel and Hawk snorted under their breath - they were used to the rude, harsh, insulting tone Johnny spoke in - but the others were less than pleased. Mitch blushed furiously and looked down, and Daniel glared at Johnny.

"Anyways, y'all know what to do. You ready? 3… 2… 1… Go!" Johnny shouted. Immediately, the pairs took off into the woods. Miguel and Hawk ran towards their first checkpoint on their map, around a half mile away, keeping their pace fast but not too fast. This race was 7 hours long and they were practically running a half marathon on top of all of the strenuous obstacles in store for them. After around a 5 minute jog, they arrived at the first checkpoint and obstacle. Miguel and Hawk looked around for the obstacle and moments later, Miguel spotted it: a sign posted on a nearby massive oak tree.

"Here." Miguel said, and the two walked towards it, still recovering from their short jog. Miguel and Hawk read the sign…

Climb the tree. Grab one of the ribbons at the top…

Miguel and Hawk looked at each other, and Hawk nodded.

"Okay, let's do this." Hawk said. Miguel nodded, already in sync with his friend on how they were going to do this. Hawk would be the one doing the climbing, but Miguel would give him a massive boost by giving him a leg up. Hawk was the acrobat. Miguel was the sledgehammer. It took Hawk around a minute to get to the top of the tree and he threw down a gold ribbon, and Miguel caught it. Hawk grinned and expertly scaled back down the tree to the ground, and him and Miguel high-fived.

"Nice one." Miguel remarked. "Now, next obstacle. Three miles… that way." Miguel said, consulting his compass and pointing towards deeper into the forest. Hawk groaned.

"3 miles? Jesus!" He grumbled. Miguel chuckled.

"We got 7 hours for this race. Let's take it easy." Miguel said.

"Nah, we gotta win!" Hawk exclaimed. Miguel laughed.

"And we will. Look at our opponents. Something tells me Bert and Nate aren't about to be rushing to run 13 miles continuously."

"True, true. Let's do this!" Hawk declared. Miguel nodded and they continued on their trek…

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"Come on, Demitri! Hurry up!" Sam snapped, annoyed. An hour more had passed in the race and they had only completed one obstacle. It had taken a lot out of them, and they were already nearing exhaustion. Well, Demitri was. Sam was just annoyed as she wanted to go faster. Demitri finally came to a stop and he sat on a rock.

"Break. Please." He begged. Sam sighed and sat down opposite him, glancing at her watch. She knew that with every passing second, Miguel and Hawk were getting further and further ahead. This was more than just a race for 50 bucks for her. She came from a pretty wealthy family so 50 bucks wasn't much to her. It was about something more. Ever since training started, Hawk and Miguel had been considered the 'unofficial favourites' to win the competition. Although Sam was undeniably a good fighter, when it came to fighting humongous guys in the tournament, Miguel and Hawk were given extra training, extra attention, and Sam wanted that to change. She wanted to show everyone, and herself, that she was still a contender to win the All-Valley. She was Samantha Larusso, daughter of a two time All-Valley champion and Miyagi-Do instructor. She would be winning that tournament.

"We need to go." Sam snapped after less than a minute of resting. Demitri groaned and didn't get up.

"Calm down, Sam!" Demitri snapped. "You've gotta realise I'm not as in shape as your action hero boyfriend!"

"This isn't about Miguel... and he's not perfect, you know?" Sam stated. Demitri raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, trouble in paradise?" Demitri remarked. Sam sighed.

"Yeah, little bit. I mean he's not doing anything wrong. He's kind, he's considerate, he's selfless. It's just… I'm scared."

"Of?" Demitri asked.

"Of losing everything like we did last time. You're not blind. You can tell Sensei Lawrence and my dad are not doing so well at the whole working as a team thing. Sensei Lawrence's insults and attitude combined with my dad's stubbornness are not a good combo."

"Yeah, you could say that." Demitri laughed as he thought about all of the arguments the two senseis had. "But what does this have to do with you and Miguel?"

"I'm… I'm scared that my dad and Sensei Lawrence are going to split up and go back to being enemies, and Miguel and I are going to be forced to take our places on our respective sides. You know, Miguel is Johnny's mentor and protegee, and my dad is, well, my dad. I'm just scared we're going to get caught in the crossfire." Sam said. Demitri nodded, thoughtfully, the race temporarily forgotten.

"Well, have you considered talking to him about it?" Demitri asked. Sam shook her head.

"I don't want to talk to him yet and spook him out. It's just, Miguel's the only person I can completely trust and I can talk freely with. He was the only person who really understanded the PTSD and the pain I had after fighting Tory. I mean, my dad helped a little but after they invaded my house, all of those fears came rushing back and he was able to help pull me out. I don't want to lose him." Sam whispered. Demitri shrugged.

"I mean, with all due respect Sam, you're crazy. That's not going to happen. You both are a lot older and more mature now. You've been through hell together but you've come out even stronger on the other end. He'd be crazy to throw all of that away again just because of the rivalry. You guys have grown up a lot since last year. You're gonna be fine."

Sam nodded and smiled at Demitri. She stood up and gave him a hug.

"Thanks, Demitri. I really appreciate it." Sam said. Demitri nodded.

"Anytime." He replied. "Now, let's get going…"

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Kyler parked his jeep at the other side of the forest, and him, Robby, Tory and Shawn walked out. They had managed to track Hawk's phone to Coyote Creek and they wanted to take the opportunity to send a message. Hawk had betrayed Cobra Kai, and Cobra Kai did not take too well to backstabbers. Miguel would have to wait for another day, but they were going to handle Hawk right then, right now…